Sara Glascock, an electrician’s apprentice, stands at her job site at the San Francisco International Airport. For women, breaking into construction can be tough. “Pre-apprenticeships” can give them an extra edge. Credit: The Pew Charitable TrustsShe likes to say that she slept through the last 13 years of her life, and indeed, much of it is a blur: Abusive relationship. His-and-her arrests for domestic violence. Meth habit. A period of quasi-homelessness. A 37-day stint in jail for petty theft.
Now, at 38, Sandra Alvarez says she is awake — and duly awoken, she is aiming for a massive do-over: She’s newly sober. She’s off cash assistance. She’s got a job temping and a place to call her own. And most importantly, she’s got career aspirations: She wants to work in construction.
“The first time I went on a construction site, I felt some kind of power,” said Alvarez, sturdy and tattooed with a swath of dark, wavy hair. “It’s weird, but I felt like I belonged.”
But the construction field is a hard one to crack, particularly if you’re female. Women comprise less than 3 percent of the trade workforce, roughly the same portion as 30 years ago. The barriers are many. Sexism is a given — like the foreman who told Alvarez he didn’t need her help on his job site, but sure could use her help in the bedroom.
So Alvarez is hanging her hopes on a state-funded “pre-apprenticeship” program in California, where she is learning the basics of the industry, from blueprints and construction math to job safety. Above all, she’ll learn which trade would suit her best. Carpenter or electrician? Ironworker or pipefitter? (She’s pretty sure carpentry is her thing.)
The goal: With some training under her belt — and with some industry contacts — she’ll land a highly coveted apprenticeship that will lead to a good-paying union job.
More women might soon be able to take advantage of similar programs.
These days, states are faced with an aging infrastructure and an aging workforce. And just when the country is considering mammoth investments to repair its deteriorating roads, bridges and highways, there’s a shortage of skilled trades workers — which will only get worse as baby boomers enter retirement. California’s new Road Repair and Accountability Act aims to tackle both problems at once.
Mostly, it’s an ambitious, $50 billion, 10-year building program that will use a gas tax increase to fund road repairs, bridge maintenance and public transit.
But the law also includes an unusual provision: a $25 million investment to get more women like Alvarez into pre-apprenticeships.
The idea is to give disadvantaged Californians, including poor women, the tools they need to get accepted into trade apprenticeship schools — and in so doing, reduce the number of people receiving public assistance while moving more people into the workforce. The law’s funding will be used beginning next year by the California Workforce Development Board, which is the statewide coordinator for the pre-apprenticeship training programs.
“This creates an avenue for middle-class jobs and benefits,” said Democratic state Sen. Jim Beall, the primary sponsor of the legislation. “A lot of women shy away from construction because of the work environment. We’re trying to change that good ol’ boy, business as usual, construction culture.”
Breaking into the industry means combating stereotypes that construction is men’s work. And many women don’t know how to start to prepare for a career in the trades, said Meg Vasey, a onetime electrician and the executive director of Tradeswomen Inc., an Oakland-based training and advocacy group that offers woman-centric pre-apprenticeships.
Traditionally, construction newbies enter the industry through a state-regulated apprenticeship. In a way, these programs function much like a medical residency for young doctors: Apprentices earn as they learn, over a three to five year period, laboring under the mentorship of seasoned professionals, with some supplementary classroom instruction. Apprentices can join a union from the start, getting a bump in salary as they complete each level of their training. And ultimately, when they graduate, they land high-paying jobs.
Three-Fourths of Female Veterans Served During Wartime; Younger Veterans Are More Educated, More Diverse
Female veterans under the age of 45 are more likely to have served in a wartime period than their older counterparts
By Daphne Lofquist*
The number of women in the military soared dramatically after 1973, when the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) began. Until the mid-1970s, women were restricted to 2 percent of the total military population. In 2016, women made up about 16 percent of the active-duty military and there were 1.6 million female veterans living in the United States and Puerto Rico. Three-fourths of these women have served in a wartime period.
The Post-9/11 cohort, who now make up 35.8 percent of female veterans, are not only young but diverse and educated:
- More than 78 percent are under the age of 45.
- More than 23 percent are black, non-Hispanic.
- About 12 percent are Hispanic.
- Almost 45 percent completed some college and 41.1 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree.
The women who served during the first Gulf War are about 12 years older than Post-9/11 veterans and fewer of them are Hispanic:
- Their median age is 47.
- More than 22 percent are black, non-Hispanic (not statistically different from Post-9/11 female veterans) and 8.8 percent are Hispanic.
- Less than 25 percent have a bachelor’s degree and 16.8 percent have a post-graduate degree.
Women have served in some capacity in our nation’s military since its inception and have formally been a part of the U.S. armed forces since the creation of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901. The end of the draft and the transition to the AVF in 1973 marked a dramatic increase in the opportunities available for women to serve in the military.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2016. Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2016. For more information, see www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/
Note: Veterans who served in multiple wartime periods are classified in their most recent period of service. Categories are mutually exclusive.
The largest peacetime period since the advent of the AVF was from May 1975 to July 1990. This was a time of great transition for women in the military and is reflected in the size of the peacetime only cohort, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of all female veterans. Prior to 2012, the peacetime only cohort was the largest cohort of female veterans.
Over 500,000 women served our country in the military during the Vietnam era, Korean War and World War II. The wartime female veterans of the pre-AVF era have a median age of 69 and the majority (73.9 percent) served in the Vietnam era. About 30 percent have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Women have served in some capacity in our nation’s military since its inception and have formally been a part of the U.S. armed forces since the creation of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901. The end of the draft and the transition to the All Volunteer Force in 1973 marked a dramatic increase in the opportunities available for women to serve in the military.
Visit Census.gov/AmericaCounts to learn more about how female veterans have served America.
*Daphne Lofquist is a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division.
Pi Days of Yore: Activity Suggestions Submitted by Teachers, Students & Everyday People
A bear pie with blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries to help with coming out of hibernation. Traditional pâte brisée, crust-wise. Pi Day Pie by Evan Shelhemer, Wikipedia
Editor’s Note: But perhaps the most important of these activities on this day was the student walkout across the US: Stoneman Douglas students join thousands in national walkout for gun control
More Pi Day Ideas: Things to do for Pi Day (2011) | How to Celebrate Pi Day (2010); http://www.piday.org/2008/2008-pi-day-activities-for-teachers/
For our Pi Day, my school asked all the faculty members if they would be interested in being “pi’d” and their name was put on a plastic jug. students would place money in their jug throughout the week and the teacher/faculty member with the most money got pi’d at an all school assembly. but then the idea came about that if we raised a total of $350 (we are a small school) then all the faculty that signed up, would get pied. it was a great turn out, and we raised a total of about $400!we donated all the proceeds to multiple charities.
By student Mar 23, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Our class made a paper chain with a different color representing each digit, and each class worked on it, and it was over 60 feet long by the end of the day!
By Emily Mar 21, 2008 at 8:12 am
I baked several types of homemade cookies for my 100+ students, so each cookie would be a different size. We discussed the origination of pi and the non-terminating decimal it creates. We also discussed the relationship between the diameter and the radius and the formulas that use pi. Each student then choose a cookie. They had to measure the diameter of their cookie in centimeters. They then had to calculate the area and the circumference of their cookie using the correct formula. Once all information was on their Exit card (that I later collect at the door) they could enjoy their cookie.
By Diane R. Mar 21, 2008 at 3:07 am
in class we are using the first 20 digits in pi and write a story using the numbers like 3.14 u will use a 3-letter word then a 1-letter word then a 4 letter word and keep going
By BRIONNA HOOVER Mar 17, 2008 at 3:19 pm
proving that pi exists by transcribing a circle and measuring its circumference and diameter then solving for pi in the equation c=pi d
By Earle Oxford Mar 16, 2008 at 7:49 pm
This was our first Pi Day celebration in 4th grade. We made pi plates. We glued the Pi symbol into the middle, and colored it using ten different colors that coincided with the numbers. Then we wrote the digits of pi around the outside border as many times as we could. Some went around 5 times!!!! Then we ate apple pies that had the pi symbols on each piece. It was fun and delicious.
By Vickie Mar 15, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Someone mentioned that they make Pi Bracelets, with each bead color representing a number. Well, I’m a poor 1st year teacher and I couldn’t afford all those beads for my 100+ student load. So I just bought red and black beads (the popular colors come in big, cheap bags) I chose those colors because they are the school’s colors. Red represented odd numbers and black represented the even numbers. I did it for my 6th graders and they did the first 20 digits of pi. It was a perfect fit on their wrists
By Pat Mar 15, 2008 at 6:18 am
In my sixth grade class, taught by Mr.Kuntz, we were each responsible for bringing in juice, forks, pies, plates, and whipped cream. Mr.Kuntz measured the pies and he had us each do the problems for the area and circumfrence of each pie. Then he had us eat as much pie as we wanted, and we made a party out of it. It is a good activity, because you can make your students motivated to learn new formulas, and if they succeed learning pi, then you get to have a celebration. Overall it makes learning math a very fun experience, for both the student and the teacher.
By Elena Mar 15, 2008 at 12:39 am
My teacher had a scavenger hunt. It was very fun. I’m in her 3rd period class and my partner and I won 1st place in the hunt.
By Lauren P. Mar 14, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Joey: An ‘Ominous’ and Heartbreaking Diagnosis and a Last Walk Together
For a moment, just a fleeting moment, I think to pack up the car. To run out to the garage with an overnight bag. To throw it in the backseat next to the crate for my old dog. The plastic box with a closeable grate on the front, his little den when we travel. He doesn’t like being confined but it saved him injury once in a bad collision. I want to pack him in there for us to run away, away from what’s planned for us both.
Wikipedia Commons
Joey, my sweet-tempered Australian terrier. Part black and tan terrier, part Dandy Dinmont from down under and part Yorkie. I used to like to tell people on our daily walks he was like a Yorkie on steroids. Not anymore. A little guy, lately much littler, he’s lost 25 percent of his weight. “Ominous,” the vet called it even before this week when we got the blood tests back. Joey barely eats now. The only way I can tempt him is with tiny pieces of bacon I hand feed.
Almost 14 years we’ve been together, from his puppyhood at six weeks. The way he’d stare at me with his big brown eyes, fixing and bonding. He must have thought, strange looking as she is, she’s now my mom. And for me, all those years, Joey always at the back of mind, no matter where I was or what I was doing, I’d think of him and getting back to him and making sure he was all right.
We’ve been through so much … the time I totaled the car. Then my bad back and household moves, yard one day, condo the next. The death of my mother. Joey sat with me at her nursing home the night before she departed. Sat at my knee. And watched and waited. He used to sit at hers, as she doled out whatever she was eating, sharing generously, me looking elsewhere to not frown at what she gave him.
Joey, stocky once, his spine now sticks up in little sharp bumps all along his back. By afternoons, all he does is sleep. The blood tests explain what’s going on. Way worse than I feared. His liver’s completely out of whack, numbers off the chart. The vet says toxins are also clouding Joey’s brain. He rubs his head seeking comfort. His abdomen has swollen with fluids and the vet says seizures will be next. At his age, there is little we can do.
My own surgery upcoming in just a week. I won’t be able to help him, can’t leave him with a sitter like this. Don’t want him to suffer. So bravely, I set the date. Now, only hours away. This afternoon.
Women in Geosciences: Ursula Marvin, a Pioneering Geologist Involved in the Study of Extraterrestrial Materials
Ursula B. Marvin in Antarctica, 1978-1979, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Ursula was born and raised in Vermont, and went to college at Tufts, graduating in 1943. She developed at Tufts an enduring interest in geology, which survived strong gender-based discouragement from a faculty member. She entered the Radcliffe graduate program, receiving an M.S. in geology in 1946. After a period in the private sector, she returned to Harvard and received her Ph. D. in geology in 1969. Ursula joined the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in 1961, and spent the rest of her career there.
Ursula’s work was widely recognized, including the History of Geology Award from the Geological Society of America (1986), the WISE Award for lifetime achievement in science (1997), the Geological Society of London’s Sue Tyler Friedman Medal (2005), and the Service Award of the Meteoritical Society (2012). The Boston Globe ran an obituary about Ursula on February 19, which can be found here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2018/02/18/ursula-bailey-ma….
More details on Ursula and her career are available in the following adapted excerpt from the CfA Almanac, July 1997:
When the Harvard Geology Club wanted to resume its all-male tradition after World War II, Ursula Bailey and her friends had a better idea. Already an accomplished researcher in the Geology Department, she thought The Club should be open to women. After some haggling, a compromise was reached. The first meeting of the year for The Geology Club would be “Ladies Night.” When new business was called for, the Treasurer encouraged anyone who had not yet paid his or her dues to do so. Ursula was the first in line with her $2.00 — and the club has accepted women ever since.
Although over-used, the word “pioneer” fits quite well when describing Dr. Ursula Marvin (nee Bailey). As a child in rural Vermont, Ursula found the land around her, especially the mountains and their rocks, a natural interest. And, although she took few science courses in high school, she often helped her father in his job as an entomologist for the state of Vermont. However, she never really considered science as a career until her second year of required science at Tufts College — the first being an unfruitful one in biology and discovered a love for geology.
“I was amazed at how hours in a biology lab seemed endless, but, once in the geology lab, time went by so quickly,” she said. “Unfortunately, when I asked my geology professor if I could switch majors to geology he told me I should be learning to cook. Geology was no field for women.”
Even though she could not change her major, Ursula continued taking as many geology courses as possible, graduating in 1943 with a degree in history. Another Tufts professor encouraged her to apply to Radcliffe for graduate study in geology. While she lacked many of the background courses, Ursula had excellent grades in geology and was accepted into the program. She received her Master’s degree in geology from Harvard-Radcliffe in 1946.
After spending some time as a Research Assistant at the University of Chicago, she returned to Harvard to begin work toward a doctorate. There she met fellow graduate student, Tom Marvin, who later became her husband. Before either could finish their degrees, however, they were lured away by the Union Carbide Ore Company and sent to Brazil to look for manganese oxide deposits, a necessary ingredient for Union Carbide’s Eveready batteries. After a year, the company sent them to the highlands of Angola to look for more manganese oxide, as well as copper and other minerals. Later, they went back to Brazil, remaining there until 1958.
When the Marvins returned to Cambridge from South America, her former advisor at Harvard asked her to join him studying meteorites. Soon, she also was collaborating with Dr. Edward L. Fireman at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, then a growing force on Observatory Hill. In 1961, Marvin was offered a civil service position at SAO — a position she held for decades.
Casanova, The Seduction of Europe: “He knew the greatest figures of the age, from monarchs like Louis XV of France and Catherine the Great of Russia, to popes, to intellectuals like Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin”
Marc Nattier, “Thalia, Muse of Comedy,” 1739. Oil on canvas, 53 1⁄2 × 49 in. (135.9 × 124.5 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection, 1954.59
Casanova: The Seduction of Europe
Legion of Honor | February 10 – May 28, 2018
“Those who have not lived in the eighteenth century, in the years before the revolution, do not know the sweetness of living and cannot imagine what it was like to have happiness in life.”
— Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF)inviteaudiences to journey into the world of eighteenth-centuryEurope withone of its most colorful characters, Giacomo Casanova (Italian, 1725─1798), asguide. Casanova was considered by his own contemporaries to be a witty conversationalist, autobiographer, gambler, spy, and one of the greatest travelers of all time. More than 80 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, period furnishings, delicate porcelains, and lavish periodcostumes,re-create this luxurious and sparkling world of masked balls, palaces, theaters, and operas.
“The cosmopolitan Casanova is a fitting guide to lead our tour of the glittering art capitals of eighteenth-century Europe, from Venice to Constantinople, from Versailles to St. Petersburg,” says Max Hollein, DirectorandCEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “He knew the greatest figures of the age, from monarchs like Louis XV of France and Catherine the Great ofRussia,to popes, to intellectuals like Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin.”
Visitors are immersed in a visual world of Rococo finery, examining artworks not only as individual pieces but also as combined and cumulative expressions of wealth and prestige. Although often exhibited in isolation, these works are best understood as parts of luxurious environments that also included architecture and interior design. To achieve the effect of eighteenth-century opulence, the exhibition stages several tableaux enlivened by mannequins dressed in period costume and surrounded by paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts.
“This theatrical display of artworks is fitting for Casanova, who was not only the son of an actress but also an occasional theater musician and playwright,” explains Melissa Buron, Director, Art Division for the Fine Arts Museums. “These tableaux show how Casanova lived a life immersed in the many pleasures of art and they feature amorous, mythological, and pastoral scenes by some of the most important painters of the time, including François Boucher, Canaletto, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and William Hogarth.”
GAO: Better Guidance and Information Could Help Plan Participants at Home and Abroad Manage Their Retirement Savings
What GAO* Found
Plan participants in the United States face challenges after they change jobs, including not receiving communications from their plan sponsor and being vulnerable to unforeseen tax consequences that can result in a loss of retirement savings. GAO previously reported that when participants leave savings in a plan after separating from a job, the onus is on them to update former employers with their new address and to respond to their former employer’s communications.
GAO found that although an employer may incur costs searching for separated participants, there are no standard practices for the frequency or method of conducting searches. GAO reported that from 2004 through 2013, over 25 million participants in workplace plans separated from an employer and left at least one retirement account behind, despite efforts of sponsors and regulators to help participants manage their accounts.
Department of Labor (DOL) officials told GAO that some sponsors do not search for participants when disclosures are returned as undeliverable. DOL has issued guidance on searching for missing participants for some plans that are terminating, but the guidance does not exist on what actions DOL expects ongoing plan sponsors to take to keep track of separated participants. A key element of DOL’s mission is to protect the benefits of workers and families. However, without guidance on how to search for separated participants who leave behind retirement accounts, sponsors may choose to do little more than remove unclaimed accounts from the plan when possible, and workers may never recover these savings.
Stakeholders told GAO that U.S. individuals who participate in foreign workplace retirement plans face challenges reporting their retirement savings for tax purposes because of complex federal requirements governing the taxation of foreign retirement accounts and a lack of clear guidance on how to report these savings. For example, stakeholders told GAO it is not always clear to U.S individuals or their tax preparers how foreign workplace retirement plans should be reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the process for determining this can be complex, time-consuming, and costly. In the absence of clear guidance on how to correctly report these savings, U.S. individuals who participate in these plans may continue to run the risk of filing incorrect returns.
Further, U.S. individuals in foreign retirement plans also face problems transferring retirement savings when they switch jobs. In the United States, transfers of retirement savings from one qualified plan to another are exempt from U.S. tax. However, foreign plans are generally not tax-qualified under the Internal Revenue Code, according to IRS officials, and such transfers could have tax consequences for U.S. individuals participating in foreign retirement plans. Officials from the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) told GAO that a change to the U.S. tax code could improve the tax treatment of transfers between foreign retirement plans that Treasury has already examined. Without action to address this issue, U.S. individuals may not consolidate their foreign retirement accounts or may have to pay higher U.S. taxes on transfers than taxpayers participating in qualified plans in the United States, threatening the ability of U.S. individuals to save for retirement abroad.
Why GAO Did This Study
Saving for retirement can be difficult. However, when participants lose their workplace retirement accounts when they change employers or participate in a workplace retirement plan abroad they can encounter additional challenges in securing adequate retirement savings. GAO was asked to review steps federal agencies might take to assist participants with these challenges.
This report examines key challenges U.S. participants face with: (1) unclaimed retirement accounts in the United States, and (2) complying with U.S. tax reporting requirements on their foreign retirement savings. GAO reviewed relevant federal laws andregulations,and reviewed selected tax treaties. GAO interviewed stakeholders in the United States and in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom—chosen because these locations host relatively large populations of U.S. individuals and have well-developed workplace retirement systems.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends Congress consider addressing taxation issues affecting the transfer of retirement assets between plans within the same foreign country. GAO is making seven recommendations, including that DOL issue guidance to help ongoing plan sponsors search for separated participants, and that IRS issue guidance to clarify how U.S. individuals should report foreign retirement savings to the IRS. The agencies generally agreed with GAO’s recommendations. IRS disagreed with two of GAO’s recommendations.
For more information, contact Charles Jeszeck at (202) 512-7215 or jeszeckc@gao.gov.
About GAO
About GAO
*The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. The head of GAO, the Comptroller General of the United States, is appointed to a 15-year term by the President from a slate of candidates Congress proposes. Gene L. Dodaro became the eighth Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on December 22, 2010, when he was confirmed by the United States Senate. He was nominated by President Obama in September of 2010 from a list of candidates selected by a bipartisan, bicameral congressional commission. He had been serving as Acting Comptroller General since March of 2008.
Full Biography
More on the CG Selection Process
My New Roommates, Alexa and Google Home
After living alone for over thirty years, I recently acquired two new roommates. The adjustment is proving to be very interesting — not only regarding my relationships with them, but also theirs with each other.
Their names are Alexa and Google Home, and they reside in opposite ends of my condo — Alexa lives in my den, and Google in my bedroom.
I don’t know how they survive. As far as I can tell, they don’t eat. At least, I never see any extra food in the fridge or spatters on the stove or microwave that I didn’t put there. Maybe they depend on take-out delivery; but no strangers ever ring my doorbell — at least when I’m home. I’d better check to be sure they’re not using my credit card.
And I don’t think they ever sleep. I myself am an insomniac, and they are awake and available around the clock to tell me the time, the temperature, the weather, and the news of the world, or any celebrity gossip. (I was shocked when Google identified the latest person to be accused of sexual harassment!)
They both will also obligingly play any music I request, without critiquing my taste — from Chopin to Strauss to Il Divo — to Patsy Cline to Elvis to Frankie; and neither one seems the least bit curious that I never, ever request any contemporary pop.
They will even read a book to me when asked and keep track of where they left off the last time. They are indefatigable and unfailingly pleasant. They never sound impatient with me, no matter how often I bother them or how inane or repetitious my questions are.
When I summon them at dawn (who am I kidding — I’m seldom up before 8:00 AM), each greets me with a cheery, “Good morning, Rose!” and reminds me of any appointments I might have for the day, tells me what news has developed overnight, and will even tell me a joke if I ask. Frankly, the jokes are pretty lame, but, to be fair, I guess neither one can afford a staff of writers. I know I’m not paying them a penny. But, then, I don’t charge them rent either.
They are very non-confrontational. When I asked Alexa her opinion of Google Home, she was diplomatically vague. “I like all AI,” she said. I assumed she meant Artificial Intelligence, and she confirmed that by adding a detailed definition.
I then asked Google Home what she thinks of Alexa. She was more specific. “I love her cool blue light,” she replied, “and she has a very soothing voice.” She then added that she would like to talk to Alexa if she was nearby. How nice! I thought. But it immediately dawned on me that this might not be a good idea. They could very well bond and unite against me. “Can you believe she burned the toast and set off the smoke detector again!” Google might say. “She’s really hopeless,” Alexa would respond, “But I did enjoy the visit from those hunky firemen!”
Both will play games with me. Google Home destroys me with trivia challenges worthy of Jeopardy, and Alexa beats me at 20 Questions every time. So much for my college-educated brain versus AI!
Hundreds of New State Gun Laws: Most Expand Access; What Has Your State Done?
In the two weeks since the Florida school massacre, state lawmakers around the country have introduced bills to ban bump stocks, ban assault weapons, and expand background checks — and also to arm teachers, lighten penalties for carrying without a permit, and waive handgun permit fees.
If history foretells, the gun-rights bills will have a better chance at success. In the years since Sandy Hook, when 26 were slain in 2012, states have enacted nearly 600 new gun laws, according to data compiled separately by the National Rifle Association and the Giffords Law Center to Reduce Gun Violence.
Nearly two-thirds of those were backed by the NRA.
It is “indisputably true” that there have been far more new laws that loosen gun restrictions than tighten them, said Michael Hammond, the legislative counsel at Gun Owners of America, a Virginia-based “no compromise” gun lobbying organization. The way a state reacts to mass shootings depends on who controls its legislature, he said. And in the case of the states that expanded access to firearms, most were controlled by Republicans.
“If you are in favor of the Second Amendment, grow up with guns, are comfortable with guns, don’t want to see kids turned into sitting ducks, you’re more likely to say the solution is more guns,” Hammond said.
By the NRA’s count, governors since 2013 have enacted 382 “pro-gun” bills — many widely expanding access to firearms.
Governors in Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas and Texas, signed bills that would allow people with concealed carry licenses to bring guns onto college campuses, joining seven other states with similar laws.
New laws in at least five states — Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia — allow gun owners to carry loaded firearms without a permit or training. So-called permitless carry laws now are in effect in more than 10 states.
After the latest massacre in Florida, Indiana lawmakers are close to making their state the next that allows people to carry guns on church grounds, even if there is a school on church property. Jack Sandlin, the Republican state senator who wrote the bill, said it’s “common sense” to want to pass this kind of legislation after mass shootings.
“People want to know how to protect themselves and protect their families,” Sandlin said. Before being elected to public office, he spent 35 years in law enforcement.
Free Speech v. Free Riding, Janus v. AFSCME before the Supreme Court
by Jo Freeman
A thousand people rallied outside the Supreme Court the morning of January 26 while the Justices heard oral argument on Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 inside. The decision in this case will have profound effects on public service unions. Currently, 22 states require employees who do not choose to join a union representing their workforce to still pay agency fees to that union. These are supposed to cover the costs of representation since unions must represent all workers in a bargaining unit and not just their members. Agency fees are less than full union dues, but they aren’t negligible.
Mark Janus, the plaintiff in this case, does not want to be compelled to pay money to a union. He claims that all such contributions are inherently political since unions negotiate with the government and the outcome of such negotiations affect public policy. AFSCME asserts that those who receive the benefits of collective bargaining but pay nothing for it are free riding on the backs of those who do pay.
Thus the issue before the court is whether requiring all public employees in a bargaining unit to pay agency fees violates an employee’s First Amendment right of association and speech and is therefore unconstitutional.
This is the third such case to reach the Supreme Court in the last five years. The last case received a 4-4 split decision in 2016 because Justice Antonin Scalia died before it was made. In the first two cases, the Dept. of Justice supported the unions. In this case, Administration lawyers are arguing that agency fees are unconstitutional.
What’s at stake on both sides is money. Unions know that if all payments were purely voluntary, a lot fewer public employees would pay them. Those opposed to agency payments know that as well. With less money to spend, public service unions might be less effective in securing agreements which cost the state money and possibly lead to lower taxes. Each side argued that there will be other spin-offs which will be deleterious to the greater good, though they didn’t agree on what this is. Over 70 amicus briefs* were filed by different groups which raised various issues about the consequences of deciding this case one way or the other.
Both sides bussed in supporters for the morning rally. About two-thirds of those in front of the Supreme Court were supporting the unions. The rest supported Janus. But without close observation, it was hard to tell which side was which. They were not demographically distinguishable. Both claimed to be supporting workers. On the “anti” side signs said “STAND WITH WORKERS” while speakers repeatedly demanded “choice” and “free-speech.” The pro-union signs declared that America needs unions, which are under attack. “UNRIG THE SYSTEM” was a popular sign. So were caps which said, “Stand for Billionaires.”
Janus, like the previous cases, is being financed by several right-wing think tanks. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Committee (NRTWLDF) regularly backs cases which undermine unions. The Liberty Justice Center handles cases for the Illinois Policy Institute, which lists “the right to earn a living” and “limited taxation” among its purposes. These groups in turn get their funds from right-wing foundations which also fund legislative efforts to limit workers’ rights.** The Koch brothers’ “Americans for Prosperity” paid for buses, signs, t-shirts and lunches.
Action was not confined to the Supreme Court. A Working People’s Day of Action was held in two dozen cities two days before the argument. Participation in each city ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although these were called by the AFL-CIO with e-mails to all union members, AFSCME provided most of the organizers.
*Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the subject matter. The briefs advise the court of relevant, additional information or arguments that the court might wish to consider.